Dangerous Love

by Ashby, Teresa

  “You don’t own me, Bram.”

  “I didn’t say I did, but Georgie needs a mother and I’ll do everything in my power to protect hers. Make that call, Regan.”

  David answered. She didn’t know him all that well, but he always seemed nice. She knew he’d had a fling with a woman from work and that Katie hadn’t been able to forgive him. She knew too that he’d wanted to come back, but Katie wouldn’t have him.

  Quickly she told him what had happened.

  “Can you get down here?”

  “I’ll leave right away. I’ll get there somehow. How bad is she hurt?”

  “I don’t know yet, David,” she said. “Just drive carefully.”

  Bram had turned onto the road that led up to the cliffs. In the distance she could see the figure of a man waving his arms.

  “There’s Len!”

  There was no wind, but clouds obscured the moon. If the wind picked up and it started to snow again, it would soon turn into a blizzard. The last place you wanted to be in a blizzard was at the top of a cliff. But it wasn’t windy and it wasn’t snowing – yet.

  Regan’s stomach knotted.

  Len ran towards them and fell flat on his face in the snow.

  Bram stopped the car and jumped out. Regan followed. By the time they reached him, Len was struggling to his feet.

  “Thank God,” he said. “This way, quick! It was Katie,” he went on breathlessly. “She called Lally and said she was going to jump. She thinks she’s got nothing to live for.”

  He broke off and clutched at Bram’s arm.

  “You’ve got to help them, Bram. They’ve fallen all the way to the bottom.”

  “Is help on the way?”

  “You’re it,” Len said. “The emergency services are stretched to the limit and they’re going to get here as soon as they can, but right now, we’re their only hope.”

  “It should be sandy at the bottom at this point,” Regan said, trying desperately to get her bearings, trying to remember what the tides were doing.

  “Lally said they’d landed on the sand. She thought Katie had fainted, but hadn’t hit her head.”

  “Good.”

  “I’ll bring the car up closer,” Bram said. “I’ve got ropes in the back.”

  Regan stared at him in shock. Her best friend was down there and now the father of her child planned to go over the edge.

  “The tide will be in too far to go round via the beach. This is the only way.”

  That was right. Regan visualised the beach. The cliffs dipped in here and people often got caught on the little patch of beach, trapped by the incoming tide.

  “Regan?”

  “Do what you have to do, Bram.”

  This wasn’t the section of cliff where Jay and Georgie had gone over. It wasn’t as steep and the rocks not as sheer. And if Lally and Katie had fallen without injuring themselves, then Bram going over with a rope would be much safer.

  He wound the rope round his middle.

  “We should wait for the helicopter,” Len said.

  “You called me up here,” Bram said. “Because you know as well as I do that we can’t afford to wait.”

  He fastened the rope to the tow bar, then Len moved the car until the rope was taught.

  “Take it slow, Len!” Bram yelled. “Regan, you’re going to have to guide him.”

  There wasn’t time to think. Regan nodded and lifted her hand, ready to give Len the signal to reverse.

  The car jerked back and Bram went over the side. She heard him swear, then shout, “Tell him to slow down!”

  But she was already running to the car.

  “I’ll do it,” she said. “Your feet are cold and you’re shaken up. Get out, Len. You guide me.”

  “My foot slipped on the clutch,” Len said as he climbed out. “I can hardly feel my feet. Is he okay?”

  “Yes. Go back and call directions.”

  She got behind the wheel. It was a big car and although driving on the snow and ice scared the life out of her, she knew that this thing had great traction, so long as you kept it steady. No harsh movements.

  It was agonising, inching back so slowly until at last Len put up his hand.

  “Stop!”

  She pulled on the brake and jumped out and went as close to the edge as she dared. It was impossible to see the people below, but Regan could see the waves getting closer and closer to the shore. It wouldn’t be long before it was full tide. Once it reached them, they wouldn’t have a hope in hell of surviving.

  “I’m sending Katie up first,” Bram yelled. “She’s conscious and scared. I don’t think anything’s broken.”

  “Watch her back and neck, Bram,” Regan called out.

  It seemed an age before Bram called up that they were ready.

  “Slow as you can,” he shouted. “No sudden movements.”

  “You do it,” Len said. “I’ll guide you. You’re a smoother driver than I am.”

  Regan took a few deep breaths, then began to drive slowly away from the cliff edge. Her knees were shaking with fear, but she managed to keep the clutch steady as the big car rolled forward, snow crunching beneath the tyres.

  She tried not to think about Katie, dangling on the end of the rope and when Len yelled, “Stop!” she let out her breath in a long hiss, then ran back to the edge as Len was helping Katie over the edge.

  She was sobbing, but mercifully uninjured.

  “I’m sorry,” she wept. “I’m so sorry. I slipped. I didn’t mean to…”

  Regan wrapped blankets round her and held her close. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve been through hell. And listen, David’s coming. He’s going to get here as soon as he can.”

  “I still love him, Regan,” Katie wept. The bitter, scratchy, bad-tempered woman she’d become had gone and all that remained was a frightened shell. “If I’d only got over my hurt and taken him back…”

  “Don’t think like that, Katie. You can’t change the past, but you can do something about the future. You and David… you need each other now.”

  Soon it was time to do it again, this time bringing Lally up to the top. This doesn’t get any easier, Regan thought as she moved the car again.

  When they pulled Lally onto the top, she gasped, “Hurry! The water’s almost in. It’s coming in so fast.”

  Len threw the rope over the side and Regan ran back to the car. It would be quicker this time. Fastening himself to the rope wouldn’t take as long as it had with Katie and Lally.

  Len gave her the signal and she began to creep forward, resisting the urge to put her foot down and get him up as soon as possible. She’d hardly moved a few metres when the car jerked forward and Len let out a shout.

  Katie was beside the car, hammering on the window.

  “The rope broke,” she screamed.

  “What?”

  “Len saw it had frayed, but it was too late.”

  There wasn’t enough rope to send down more and worse than that, when Regan shouted out, Bram didn’t answer.

  “No!” she cried. “No, you are not doing this to us, Bram Fletcher.”

  She thrust the car keys at Len.

  “Get down to the town,” she instructed as she fished a first aid kid out of the car and stuffed it in a backpack she found in the boot. “Alert the lifeboat crew. Take Lally and Katie with you and get them to hospital as soon as you can.”

  “What are you going to do? You’re not planning to climb down there?” he said.

  “Are you kidding?” she said. “I’m scared of heights. There’s no way I could go down. No. I’m going down to the end then I’ll make my way back across the rocks.”

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  “You grew up round here, Len. You must have played on the cliffs as a child and you know it’s possible to go along the face of the cliffs. You must have done it when you were a kid. For a dare?”

  He looked at her as if she was mad.

  “No,” he said. “I never did. I was never t
hat stupid!”

  “Have you got any better ideas?”

  “We can’t let you do it,” Lally said.

  “I have to! If he gets taken by the tide, he doesn’t stand a chance. If I can get to him before the sea does, I can help him get higher up the cliff and we’ll wait for rescue.”

  Lally looked at Len.

  “He’s not answering us, love,” Len said, his voice calmer. “How are you going to get an unconscious man up the cliff?”

  “I’ll think of something,” she said, tightening the straps of the back pack. “Please, hurry.”

  Running down the hill through the snow was hard going. The muscles in her legs protested and with every gasp of cold air, her chest hurt. But thinking of Bram lying at the foot of the cliffs kept her going. Nothing else mattered but getting to him.

  She was doing this for Georgie. She wasn’t going to let her little girl lose her father all over again.

  At the bottom of the slope, she jumped down onto the beach and doubled back, scrambling over the rocks until she could get no further. She felt no pain as she smashed down again and again. Her body already hurt with the cold. Not once did she think she might not make it herself. It didn’t even cross her mind that she wouldn’t get back to Georgie.

  In the car it had been different. She wasn’t in control. Now she was.

  She was running on adrenaline.

  She had to go upwards. Up and along. She climbed up above the water and began to move sideways. Progress was painfully slow, but if she went faster, she risked slipping and she had absolutely no intention of killing herself.

  At last the cliff bowed inwards, sheltering the last remaining patch of sand. She looked up. It wasn’t that high. If they helped each other, she could get Bram up there. No problem! Easy peasy! She choked back a burst of desperate laughter.

  The clouds parted as she jumped down onto the sand and the moon ignited the sky, gleaming down on the waves as they washed over the shore, but she couldn’t see Bram, couldn’t tell which one of the dark shadows at the base of the cliff might be him.

  Then one of the shadows spoke.

  “Regan? What the hell are you doing down here?”

  “Coming to get you,” she said. “Len’s alerting the lifeboat in case we can’t make it back up.”

  Of all the places to fall, this was probably the best. If they couldn’t get up the cliff, the lifeboat would be able to get pretty close to them here. Or they could go back the way she’d come, scrambling across the cliff face like a pair of crabs.

  She almost laughed again. The situation wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d feared.

  She knelt on the sand beside him, water lapping at her heels and felt the stickiness of blood on his head. But that’s okay, she told herself. Heads bled a lot, that’s what they did, she knew that.

  “I don’t know what happened,” he said. “One minute I was coming back up the cliff, the next I woke up with my mouth full of sand.”

  “Well, you’re okay now,” she said. “We’re going to climb up. If you can’t make it all the way we’ll go as far as we can and wait for rescue.”

  “You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll wait down here.”

  “What?” She laughed. “Don’t be mad! This’ll be underwater in a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, well, I can admire the view better from down here. Oh darn, I forgot, you borrowed some of my trousers. I hope you haven’t torn them.”

  “What are you talking about?” she said, baffled. “Come on, Bram. You’re not making any sense. On your feet.”

  She grabbed his arm and tried to pull, but he wasn’t budging.

  “What is wrong with you?” she yelled. “Why are you playing the fool? Get up will you?”

  “I can’t,” his voice cracked. “Get back up the top. Leave me here. Do it, Regan.”

  “What? Why? Stop being such an idiot.”

  He gripped her wrist, tight. She tried to pull away but couldn’t.

  “You’re hurting me, Bram.”

  “Go,” he said, releasing her. “Georgie needs you.”

  She caught her breath and looked up. The waves were getting bigger as they smashed over the rocks, showering them with icy cold spray.

  “I’ll follow you,” he said. “I just need to get my breath back.”

  She almost believed him. Almost. But there was no way the Bram Fletcher she knew would have sent her on her own up the cliff. He’d have wanted to be there, ready to catch her. Didn’t matter what his personal feelings were, to men like Bram it was of no consequence. His drive was to save life at all costs.

  She ran her hands down his leg.

  “Hey,” he said. “This is no time for that sort of thing.”

  “Shut up, Bram.”

  As she ran her hands down his other leg, he reached out again, clamping his hand over her wrist, but she wrenched her hand free and felt his ankle, trapped between two rocks.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  “Now will you go?” he said softly.

  “No!” She clawed at the sand around the rock, then tried to shift it. It could go down forever beneath the sand.

  “You’re not getting me out of here without the use of a JCB,” he said. “So do the sensible thing and go while you can.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” she said.

  “Now who’s being a reckless idiot? Do as you’re told for once in your life, woman.”

  “Would you leave someone trapped down here?”

  His silence was all the answer she needed. She clawed again at the sand round the rock. As soon as she dug into it, the hole filled with water, a sure sign that they would soon be overwhelmed.

  She wrapped her arms round the rock and tried to rock it loose, but it didn’t budge.

  “Please,” he said. “I’ll be fine. The sea might loosen the rocks, then I’ll be able to get out.”

  She grabbed his leg and pulled and he groaned in agony. It must be broken. Brute force wasn’t going to do it and making him pass out with pain certainly wasn’t going to help.

  “See sense will you,” he grated. “Go now, while you still can.”

  “We’ll wait for the lifeboat,” she said.

  “They can’t get the damn boat in this close until the tide’s higher. By then it’ll be too late for either of us.”

  “You think you’re the only man alive with enough determination to save lives?” she said. “If you were doing this rescue, you’d find a way wouldn’t you?”

  She amazed herself at how calm she sounded when inside she was anything but. She was scared out of her wits, mainly for him, a little for herself and a lot for Georgie. But while she was alive and breathing, she just couldn’t contemplate not making it.

  “Regan,” he said. “About us…”

  “There is no us, remember?”

  “But there should have been. We used to be happy before I had that damn accident. It wasn’t just because of your ultimatum that I left. They told me I may never walk again. I wanted to leave, to get out of your life before you felt duty bound to stay with me.”

  “What?” If he hadn’t been so hurt and helpless she would have hit him! “How dare you say that?” she cried. “Do you really think I was so shallow that I’d stop loving you because you were in a wheelchair? What sort of person do you take me for?”

  “I know you would have stuck with me,” he said. “And that was the problem. You made it easy for me to walk…wheel myself away and blame you.”

  “I loved you, you idiot,” she sobbed. “After you’d gone…” Oh what was the point? It was all too late now.

  “I’ve never stopped loving you, Regan,” he murmured. “You should know that. I’m sorry I’ve been so angry with you.”

  His voice slurred.

  “Hey,” she pushed him. “Don’t go to sleep. If I’m staying here with you, you are damn well not going to die on me, do you hear?”

  His head rested against her shoulder and she pu
shed him upright.

  “Stay with me, Bram!” she shouted. “Stay with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I love you, you stupid great lump! I love you and I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Knew it,” he laughed weakly.

  “So why didn’t you come back?” she asked, licking her lips. She had to keep him talking, keep him conscious. “You know, when you found out you were going to be okay? Why not just come back?”

  “It took nearly two years, Regan and I wasn’t a nice person to know while I was recovering.”

  “I can imagine,” she said. “You were never the best patient.”

  “I’d kept in touch with Dennis and a couple of times he said he wanted to tell me something about you. I told him I didn’t want to hear it. I thought…” He broke off and she heard him swallow. “I thought he meant you’d found someone else. I told him I wasn’t interested and what you did was of no consequence.”

  She brushed his hair away from his face, gently moving it out of the blood so she could put on a dressing.

  “I should have tried to find you,” she said.

  He dropped his head to her shoulder again and she pushed him upright.

  “Do. Not. Sleep!” she yelled. “Bram!”

  “There,” Len said as he turned the beam on the beach and saw a figure jumping up and down waving their arms. Regan. “We’ll take the Molly Jane in as far as we can.”

  Four of the men climbed out of the boat and waded through the thigh deep water to the beach. There was no beach left. Bram was sitting in the water. Regan was crouching beside him.

  “His foot is trapped,” she said. “And his ankle is broken.”

  “This is going to hurt you more than it’s going to hurt me,” Malcolm said with a laugh.

  “I bet you say that to everyone,” Bram laughed back.

  It took them less than five minutes to free his foot and when they did, Bram bellowed with pain and Malcolm, despite his earlier words, apologised with a crack in his voice.

  Watching from the boat, Len saw two of the guys lift Bram up and start their unsteady journey back to the boat.

  Behind him came the other two, carrying Regan.